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Hot dog eaters ready for famed NY contest

The Associated Press

Posted:
07/03/2014 06:15:21 PM EDT

Updated:
07/04/2014 01:59:05 AM EDT

Click photo to enlarge

CORRECTS POSITION OF THOMAS AND SUDO- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio watches hot dog eating contestants Sonya Thomas, left, and Miki Sudo, right, during a news conference to promote the upcoming Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot-Dog Eating Contest tomorrow Thursday, July 3, 2014, at City Hall in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

NEW YORK (AP) — A seven-time hot dog-eating champion and the women's hot dog-eating champ will compete for their crowns again at the annual contest on Coney Island.

Thirteen women and 17 men will compete Friday before a crowd of about 30,000 spectators and a TV audience of about one million.

Joey Chestnut, who is 205 pounds, hopes to put away his competition by downing 70 hot dogs in 10 minutes just steps from beach. Matt Stonie, who finished second last year, will be back for another try at the top spot. He weighs in at 130 pounds.

Two-time women's champ Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas will try to eat more than 45 hot dogs. At just 100 pounds, she will try to defend her title against 115-pound Miki Sudo.

The top four competitors weighed in Thursday during a pre-contest event presided over by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Each of them said they were fasting Thursday, but Irish contestant Colin Shirlow grabbed a free hot dog during the weigh-in to get a first taste of the Nathan's Famous dogs they'll be gobbling down.

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